


Nightmares

by UnpreparedFangirl



Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders
Genre: Dreams and Nightmares, Family, Gen, Insomnia, Secrets, Self-Esteem Issues
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-19
Updated: 2017-11-01
Packaged: 2019-01-20 01:41:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12422418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnpreparedFangirl/pseuds/UnpreparedFangirl
Summary: Something is wrong with Roman. Night after night, he is forced to enter "The Closet of Nightmares", and Thomas is feeling the effects of these past two weeks. Will the other Sides figure out what's going on or will Roman be stuck in this endless loop of night terrors?





	1. Chapter 1

There are quite a few things not many know about Roman. Despite being the creative side, he never could figure out a way to explain himself. All his flaws quirks he never wanted anyone to know about.  
For one, he is the sole insomniac of the house. Everyone assumed it would be Mr. Grumpy Gus refusing the warm embrace of sleep. It made sense. Virgil fought Thomas’ sleep schedule, right up until he went to bed far past Logan and Patton’s bedtimes. Who was Roman to disturb their thinking?  
Long after Virgil’s music fades and soft snoring can be heard through their adjoined wall, however, there is only Roman. Sometimes, he lays in bed, unable to get up. Sometimes, he goes on adventurous quests to woo a prince or slay the dragon witch. But recently-  
“What is going on with me?” Suddenly, the prince leaps out of bed and begins to pace, further wearing an indent into the carpet before his closet. Constantly running hands through his hair, gritting his teeth, he is the spitting image of someone both crazy and angry.  
Finally, he stops. Puts his hand on the closet door. “You heard what Logan said to Virgil,” he assures himself. “You just need to indulge in these, and they’ll wear themselves out. Keep going. They must be slowing down. It’s been 2 weeks.” He breathes in. Breathes out. And then, in one swift motion, he pulls the door open and steps inside.  
So, what’s the second thing you should probably know about Roman? As the creative side, it only makes sense that he controls Thomas’ dreams. But recently, when Thomas sleeps, all Roman can do is live nightmare after nightmare. And he can’t stop.


	2. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys, I just wanted to let you know that this chapter is taking place 8 hours after the previous one. Thanks, and enjoy!

Suddenly, he flies out of the closet, pushing the doors closed. He forces all of his weight upon the doors, allowing himself just enough time to lock it before he hears the all-too-familiar thud on the other side. Then, his room goes quiet. So quiet he can only hear his own breath, his own familiar heartbeat in his chest. Listening intently, he hears footsteps padding away softly. Only then does he allow himself to step away from the cupboard he’d been leaning upon.

He straightened the sign on the door reading “Horseman Wardrobe”. He distinctly remembered making that sign when these weeks of nightmares first began as a child, before he could be sure no one would come into his room. It was a play on words he had been particularly proud of, but he had no time to revel in his genius. He began to feel his knees give out in exhaustion. Stumbling toward the bed, he falls on his face just as he hears Patton enter Virgil’s room next door.

“Verge? Did you have a nightmare, buddy? Do you need to talk? Thomas, well….. Thomas isn’t doing too good with sleep right now. Is everything okay?”  
And he was out.

**************************************************************************

Virgil blinked blearily at the other side. “Huh?” he asked, aware he sounded like a moron. Mentally face-palming, he tried again. “What’s going on, Pat? Did he have another one?”

Patton merely nodded somberly at Virgil. “This has been going on for two weeks, kiddo. I’m starting to get worried about Thomas- and you! Have you been trying those meditation techniques Logan taught you? Those techniques are gonna do you so much good and-”

Virgil rolled his eyes and flopped back down onto his bed, interrupting Patton as his volume and speed increased. “Pat, I’m fine. I haven’t been having any nightmares. Now, why don’t you go downstairs, okay? I’ll be down for some breakfast in a minute.”

“But Virgil-”

“Patton. Leave.” Virgil said it as gently, yet forcefully, as he could. Slowly, Patton left, looking saddened. But as soon as the door closed, he could hear a cheerful “Thank you!” from the Dad of their group as he walked away, headed for the stairs. Virgil laughed, but it quickly faded. Something was going on with Thomas. And, man, he hated overtime.


	3. A Quest With Patton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna be on for a few days, due to a trip I'm going on, so I wanted to get this out to you. Because of that, it's significantly longer. Enjoy!

Virgil trudged out of his room, wearing his eyeshadow and jacket. Slowly thudding down the stairs, he slumps over the table. “.....Morning.”

Patton smiled at him and poured him a glass of orange juice, placing a strip of bacon on his plate and doing the same for Logan’s and his own. And Roman’s. “Has anybody seen Roman this morning?”

Virgil simply hummed a no, keeping his head on the table. “Is it possible that he went out questing earlier? He may have not yet returned,” Logan explained before taking a bite of his bacon.

Patton shook his head. “No, he promised he would come down and eat before questing. I’ll run up and check on him. He must still be asleep.” As the other two began to eat, Patton made his way back up the stairs before coming to the Royal’s room. He rapped on the wood softly. “Roman? Roman, it’s time for breakfast. Roman…” He knocked harder, hearing a sudden thud and a soft groan. “Roman?” 

He grasped the handle, but before he could open it, Roman’s voice pierced the air. “No, wait! I’m not camera-ready!” Patton laughed softly before allowing his hand to slide from the door knob. Roman continued, “I’ll be down in just a moment.” He cursed the crack in his voice internally, hoping Patton wouldn’t hear.  
Of course, he did. But he thought the right thing to do would be to leave him alone. “Alright, kiddo. Come down when you’re ready.” And with that, Patton left the hallway, returning to the kitchen, as Roman sat on the floor.

Breathing hard, Roman leaned back, feeling an overwhelming desire to melt into the floor. Slowly, he stood up and made his way to the mirror. After brushing his hair and putting on enough concealer to cover the bags under his eyes, he joined his family at the breakfast table.

“Good morning everyone! How did we all sleep last night?” Stifling a yawn as discreetly as he possibly could, he grabbed a slice of bacon off of his plate and began to munch on it.

“Meh.”

“Satisfactory.”

“Amazing!”

“Well, that sounds lovely.” They sat in silence for a few minutes, eating their breakfasts before Roman stood up. His head was swimming, and he knew he desperately needed a nap. However, his pride pushed him to lie to the others. He stood up, careful of his balance, and rinsed off his dishes in the sink before turning to his family.

“Well, I’m off to go…. Questing. I’ll see you all at lunch!” Unfortunately, before he could walk away, Patton interjected.

“Wait, Roman!” Roman froze at the doorway before slowly turning around, keeping a hand on the frame.

“Yes? Is something troubling you?”

“You promised that the next time you went questing, you’d bring me! Remember?

Suddenly, Roman did remember Patton bouncing up and down, begging to go. The image of the Heart’s disappointed face at his rejection and his inevitable promise of next time flashed across his brain. He took a deep breath.

“Alright, Patton. Let’s go.”

Patton gleefully jumped up from his plate, dashing up the steps just as Roman reached the top, out of breath. They walked together to Roman’s room, Patton radiating joy and excitement. However, as they opened the door, Roman’s facade slipped further out of his grasp.

“Patton, can I be honest with you?”

“Absolutely, kiddo. You can tell your dear old dad anything!”

Ignoring the ‘dad’ comment, he steeled himself. “I was just gonna take a nap. I didn’t sleep too well last night and I just wanted a little shut eye. Can we go after lunch?”

A look of concern flashed across Patton’s face, but it was quickly replaced by understanding. “Of course, kiddo! Do you want me to leave?”

Princey shook his head. “If the others see you leave, they’ll ask what’s wrong. And I know you don’t like to lie, and I don't want them to know. They'd worry too much. You can just hang out in here.”

“Sounds super!” Patton flopped onto a beanbag in the corner of the room and pulled out a comic book. But just as Roman was about to flop onto his bed, getting real sleep for the first time in what felt like forever, he felt it.

“Not now. Why now?” Tears threatened to leak out of his eyes as he looked at the clock. He was surprised to see it read 11AM. Thomas must have rescheduled the coffee date with that guy, he realized. His whole body began to shake as he stepped closer to his closet.

Patton looked up, really noticing the cupboard for the first time. “Why does that say ‘Horseman Wardrobe’?” He giggled softly before noticing Roman’s fearful eyes. “Roman…..? What’s wrong?”

A sole tear leaked out of the Prince’s eye as he said, “I’ll explain when I get back. But I need you to do a few things for me.” When Patton nodded, he continued. “For one, I need you to stay here for as long as possible. Secondly, I need you to not tell anyone. Thomas, Logan, Virgil. No one can know that I’m gone. No one can know what’s about to happen. Can you do that?”

“Yeah, but-” Cutting Patton off, Roman again pulled open the door of his own personal Hell. And stepped inside, the door falling shut behind him.


	4. The Horseman Wardrobe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roman is thrust back into the closet... And we see what's in store.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this chapter does contain the stuff from my perspective on Roman's nightmares. I don't know what can/will trigger people, so I feel that it's worth mentioning that the following are in this chapter: Prisons, tasers, worthlessness, Christmas festivities, hate/name calling. I hope I got the extent of it, but if there's something I didn't tag and should, please let me know. It is absolutely not my intention to trigger anyone. Please enjoy!

Suddenly, he’s on the ground and sprinting, jungle flying around him. The screech of monkeys hit his ears as he ran without ceasing. Tears leaked down his face, but he brushed them off his cheek and pushes on, having no idea as to where he’s going. All he knows is that he has to go.

So, he does. He sprints and sprints, recognising trap doors he’s passed before. Somehow, despite the ever shifting background of his nightmares, he always begins his terror by running. By the end of the nightmare, he knows what he’s running from, but for some reason, he never remembers. After these two weeks, he’s not sure he wants to.

Without warning, the ground opened up, and he’s free falling…. And falling…. And falling. He can feel gravity pull him down. The wind rushing past his ears, filling his head with what sounds like whispers of “Not…...Needed”, but he shakes his head. Of course I’m needed. I’m the prince, he thought to himself, but the first seed of doubt had been planted. Just like every other night.

After what felt like years, he finally hit the ground, bones cracking on the concrete below him. Groaning, he tried to push himself up, only to find his hands chained to the floor. He pulled again before giving up, determined not to cry. He’d figure this out. He had to.

He lifted his head, recognising his environment as one of a prison. He was handcuffed to a grate in the floor, bolted down. He quickly pushed himself up as much as he could, but was met with swift….. Electrical resistance.

“Did I tell you to get up…. Princey? God, you’re pathetic. Can’t even follow one simple order without trying to be creative. Grow up.” As Roman lay spasming on the floor, the mysterious person stepped in front of Roman. “Do you hear me? Grow up. You act as if the world should cater to your every need. Something isn’t to your liking? You try to find a way around it. Look here, buddy.” His throat was quickly grabbed by this hulk of a man carrying a taser, his pulse thumping wildly in his neck. He was forced to meet his dirty brown eyes, full of hate.

“This…” He gestured around himself before focusing back in on the Creative Side. “...Is my prison. You will respect my authority. Or you will pay. Do you understand me?”

Roman nodded, knowing that words would fail him in that moment.

“Good….” At that moment, the guard allowed his head to fall, and with his head, his whole body went into the grate. He screamed loudly, despite knowing he would go unheard.

When he came to, he was surrounded by the other Sides. It was Christmas morning, his favorite holiday. He looked under the tree to find mountains of gifts, and immediately recognised a few of them as ones he has worked hard to find for Logan, Patton, and Virgil.

For Logan, he special ordered a Rubik's cube. It came with magnets, for optimal turning, and backup stickers. It was also small enough that once he got good, he could solve using just one hand. With the gift, he also folded some flyers for competitions, knowing that Logan’s competitiveness could feed over and give Thomas something relaxing to do while he worked.

Patton loved hanging out with them all, and Roman knew that he could sometimes feel unimportant. In order to remedy this, he made Patton a “Compliment Jar” and filled it to the brim with words he hoped Patton always knew. A key was attached to the inside of the wrapping. Green pieces of paper were for good days when he just needed a little pick me up. Yellow papers were for days that were just kinda cruddy and he longed for something deeper to help him. Red papers were for days he didn’t want to come out of his room. Red papers were for the days he saw the Dad with red ringed eyes and didn’t know what to do. He worked hardest on those.

Virgil’s present was a little unorthodox, but he was still insanely proud of his work. Inside the envelope with his name on it were “coupons” for activities to do with Roman. He called them the “Worry-Free Fun Coupons”. On each coupon was an activity, being listening to Virgil, sitting by the rainy window with him silently, or watching a few movies. He wanted Virgil to know that he could go to him if he needed anything. At least, that was the hope.

As the other Sides bounded downstairs to open their gifts, something was evidently… wrong. They looked too cheery. Too fake. But Roman was determined to put the Christmas spirit back into his beloved family, so he proceeded to hand out his gifts, specially picked out for each of them.

The gifts were quickly opened, but their looks of fake happiness morphed into real disappointment.

“A rubik’s cube? Really? How cliche. What, do you think my hand-eye coordination is that bad? Great, Roman. Really great.”

“Why would you give me a compliment jar? You can’t just tell me things to my face? I can’t believe you would go to such great lengths to not have to talk to me. It’s disappointing.”

“‘Worry-Free Fun Coupons’? I’m the embodiment of anxiety and you give me these pieces of trash? When are you going to get it through your thick skull that I’m not one of your projects, Roman? When?”

Suddenly, they began to all speak at once, and it was impossible to focus on one voice at a time.

“You’re despicably-”

“-Not even creative-”

“Waste of time-”

“-Waste of space-”

“-Garbage presents-”

“-Hate you!”

Those two words bounced around inside his skull. Hate you. Hate you. Hate you. His family hated him. They did. Without another word, but with plenty of tears leaking down his face, he sank down, falling again, before landing on his feet in the jungle.

And then he heard it. His own voice. “Roman…. Hello, old friend.” The Real Roman turned toward the voice and came face to face with…. Himself. Only better.  
The chuckle from the Other Roman’s voice was corrupted. But Real Roman was frozen in place. “You’ve gotten yourself into another pickle, haven’t you? You’re still so….afraid of all of these things. Being wrong. Harmful. Cliche. Hated. You never learn….” He took a step forward, nose to nose with his look-alike. “Do you?”

With those words, Roman turned. He ran as fast as he allowed himself to, sidestepping more traps and branches and vines. He allowed his tears to flow freely, but refused to slow down. He could see the end of the tunnel. He was so…. close.

With a push, he opened the door to the wardrobe, leaning against it and locking it just in time to hear the thud he somehow knew like clockwork. As the creature walked away from the door, and his memory, he fell forward, prepared to hit the ground.

But just before his nose met his carpet, he was caught by the strong arms he desperately needed. The pair of them fell to the floor and Roman curled up in Patton’s arms as he began to sob openly for the first time in weeks.

"It's alright, kiddo. Just let it out. I've got you." And with those words, Roman fell asleep for the first time since the beginning of these nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys, this is the longest chapter I've ever written for any fanfic, so comments would mean a lot to me. I hope you enjoyed this angsty chapter, and I promise I will try to get others up quicker.


End file.
